13 Great Things About 3 Year Olds

I’ve documented the woahs of the last 2 years with my 3-year-old. He is a force to be reckoned with. Whether it’s knocking his teeth into his gums, or the kids refusing to sleep – we’ve had our trials. Thankfully he is really cute, so all of the chaos is at least accompanied by an adorable face.

As much stress the last few years have been, I am so happy to say we are seeing a light. Our boy has made huge strides in areas that I have longed for since he was born. While I would love to say,”my awesome parenting did this!” – I know the majority of the changes are due to him just growing up and growing out of intense sibling rivalry.

13 Great Things About My 3 Year Old

We now have conversations. I understand what he says, I he understands what I say. Communication is a great thing.

Photographs

The kid hated the camera, until his little brother learned to say cheese. Now he is all about getting his picture taken.

Eating

His crazy eating schedule has slowed down. The boy would eat 5 meals a day. He is not a huge kid. He is tall for his age, and woah could he eat! Now he is down to 3 meals a day with a snack.

Sleep

Oh sleep, you have returned. While he still wakes up at the crack of dawn, at least he will now nap and sleep in his own bed. These are HUGE milestones for a kid who has slept minimal hours over the last few years.

Play

He can now play by himself! This is huge, my dear co-dependent child has now discovered independence!

Loving

I’ve loved this kid more than life since that pregnancy test said “POSITIVE!” Just when I finally came to the understanding that not every kid is affectionate and loving, this kid becomes overly loving.

Reading Books

Each night we have mandatory reading time, and it’s not required by us – he wants to hear books. He wants books at bedtime, nap time and any time we are willing in between.

Potty Trained

I forgot how great it is not having to change diapers. Izaiah finally gets the potty training thing and we have pee and poop in the toilet! 3 kids down – 1 kid to go.

Preschool

We started Izaiah in a preschool 3-days a week and he loves it. This has been a HUGE blessing for this mom!

Learning

Speaking of preschool, learning is his new favorite thing. He came home wanting

Empathy

When his brother hurts himself he cares. When I was crying after a friend’s death, he hugged me and told me “it’s okay.” This kid. My heart. I love him so.

Caring

Izaiah and his brother go to preschool together. I dropped them off earlier this week and instead of running to the swings, he stood with his crying brother trying to get him to be happy and play.I love that he cares so much about his little brother that his happiness doesn’t matter.

Patience

Izaiah wanted a cracker. I was in the middle of dishes and asked him to wait and he did. Simple? Yes. Major to this mom? HELL YES. My kid can now wait. Not all the time, but the fact that he can sometimes is HUGE!